Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Oaxaca Wrecked My Taste Buds and Nothing Back Home Compares
40
items Came back from Oaxaca and my regular Tuesday tacos tasted like cardboard. If you've been cooking the same rotation of meals and wondering why everything feels flat, this is what finally cracked it open for me. Took me three trips and a lot of mezcal ...
Sections
8
Oaxacan Mole Ingredients That Changed How I Cook at Home
Mezcal Bottles Worth Sipping Slowly
Oaxacan Street Food Tools I Brought Home
Oaxacan Cheese and Dairy Worth Tracking Down
Salsas and Condiments That Brought Oaxaca Into My Kitchen
Oaxacan Coffee That Ruined My Morning Drip Forever
Oaxacan Mole Ingredients That Changed How I Cook at Home
Before Oaxaca I thought mole came from a jar. Turns out the reason my attempts tasted muddy was because I was using the wrong chiles and skipping steps nobody talks about online.
Swap these in for regular pasillas — the smoky depth hit me sideways the first time I used them. Perfect for anyone whose homemade mole always tastes one-dimensional no matter what recipe you follow.
Pasilla de Oaxaca Whole Chiles
Grab this if you want the real thing but don't have fourteen hours to toast and grind. Dissolved a spoonful into black beans last Wednesday and my roommate thought I'd ordered delivery from somewhere fancy.
Mole Negro (Black Mole Sauce with Chicken)
Ditch canned beans for these — the broth they make while simmering is so rich I started drinking it straight from the pot. Stock up because they sell out fast and the wait list is real.
Rancho Gordo - 'Ayocote Negro' Heirloom Beans (16OZ)
Use this for mole, not hot cocoa — though it's incredible both ways. The cinnamon ratio is completely different from Abuelita and once you try it there's genuinely no going back.
Chocolate Mayordomo
Toss your regular oregano in the trash, I'm serious. Rubbed this between my palms over a pot of beans and the kitchen smelled like the fondas in Mercado 20 de Noviembre.
RECIPES – Tagged "Mexican Oregano"
Mezcal Bottles Worth Sipping Slowly
Used to think mezcal was just smoky tequila. Then a bartender in Oaxaca City handed me a clay copita and everything I believed about agave spirits fell apart in one sip.
Keep this as your everyday sipper — it's how I got three friends who said they hated mezcal to completely reverse their opinion in one night. Works equally well in cocktails or neat with an orange slice.
Best local price for Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
Try this one if smoky spirits usually scare you off. There's an herbal, almost minty thing happening that caught me off guard at a friend's dinner party and I immediately ordered a bottle.
Espadín Joven Mezcal by Montelobos
Pair this with dark chocolate after dinner — a bartender in Oaxaca showed me that combo and I've been annoying everyone at parties with it since. For anyone who wants smoke without the campfire punch.
Ilegal Mezcal Joven
Snag this before your next dinner party and pour it alongside whatever else people are drinking. Three different agaves blended together — it shifts flavor every time you take another sip, which sounds pretentious but it's just true.
Bozal Ensamble Mezcal | Espadin, Mexicano & Barril Blend
Bring this out for the gin lover who won't touch mezcal — it bridges both worlds in a way that shouldn't work but absolutely does. Made a Negroni with it last month and nearly cried.
Gracias A Dios Agave Gin
Oaxacan Street Food Tools I Brought Home
Watched a woman press tlayudas on a comal over wood fire and realized my nonstick pan was the reason my tortillas never got that char. Came home with a suitcase full of clay and metal.
Use this over a gas burner for tortillas and the difference is immediate — that slightly earthy, toasted flavor you can never recreate on steel suddenly just appears. Worth the careful hand-washing.
Comal de Barro para Tortillas
Grab one for frothing Oaxacan hot chocolate the right way. Rolling it between your palms feels ridiculous at first but the foam it creates is thicker than anything a regular whisk can do.
Molinillo de Madera Handmade Wooden Whisk Frother
Switched from rolling pin to press and my tortillas went from sad uneven blobs to perfect rounds in about two seconds flat. For anyone who gave up on homemade tortillas — this is your second chance.
Victoria Cast Iron Tortilla Press & Roti Maker
Get the volcanic stone one, not the decorative granite knockoffs. Ground salsa in this tastes completely different from blender salsa — rougher, more alive. Took me three salsas to believe it but now my Vitamix collects dust.
Molcajete mexicano grande (11”-12”) tallado a mano en
Slow-cook beans in this and the clay adds a mineral undertone that no Dutch oven can replicate. Soaked it overnight before first use like the vendor told me and it hasn't cracked once in two years.
Mexican Clay Bean Pots: Ollas de Barro History
Oaxacan Cheese and Dairy Worth Tracking Down
Quesillo from a market stall in Tlacolula pulled apart in strings so long my kid used it like a jump rope. The stuff labeled ‘Oaxaca cheese’ at my grocery store is a different food entirely.
Keep this in your fridge for quesadillas that actually stretch — most supermarket versions are rubbery and bland but this one melts into those gooey, salty strings you remember from street food stalls.
Queso Oaxaca - Tropical
Crumble this over black beans and fried plantains for a ten-minute dinner that tastes like actual effort. For anyone stuck in the shredded-cheddar-on-everything rut, this is your exit ramp.
Cacique Queso Fresco for Tacos, Salads, and Street Corn
Try spreading this on a warm tortilla with salsa verde — it's like ricotta's more interesting cousin. Found it at a Mexican grocery after searching for weeks and now I go through a container every five days.
Nopal con requesón
Drizzle this over enfrijoladas instead of sour cream and the richness rounds out the whole plate. Thinner than crema you'd find in Oaxaca but way closer than anything else I've tried stateside.
La Vaquita Crema Mexicana, 8 oz
Snag this from a Latin market if you can find it — the salt level is perfect and it doesn't turn into plastic when you heat it. Wrapped it around herbs and grilled it and my neighbor literally asked for the recipe.
Quesillo (Oaxaca) Queso Chiapas 500g
Salsas and Condiments That Brought Oaxaca Into My Kitchen
Poured bottled hot sauce on everything for years without thinking twice. Then someone in a Oaxaca market handed me a spoonful of salsa de pasilla and I realized I'd been settling.
Keep a jar on the counter — it goes on eggs, pizza, rice, honestly everything. The crunch of fried chiles in oil hits different from liquid hot sauce and once you start you won't stop.
Don Chilio
Sprinkle this on mango, jicama, or the rim of a mezcal glass. Sounds weird, tastes incredible — brought a bag to a barbecue and watched twelve people go from skeptical to fighting over it.
Sal de Gusano Agave Worm Salt 65 gram jar 2.29 oz
Toast these in a dry pan until they puff and the smell alone will make you hungry. Hard to find outside specialty shops so grab extras when you spot them — they're the backbone of real mole negro.
Dried Chilhuacle Negro Chiles 3.5oz or 1.7oz
Try these on a tostada with guacamole before you decide you're grossed out. Crunchy, salty, tangy — handed them to my brother without telling him what they were and he ate the whole bag.
Chapulines
Use this as your weeknight shortcut when you don't have time to roast tomatillos. Not as bright as fresh but leagues ahead of most jarred salsas. Dump it over shredded chicken with crema and dinner's done in fifteen minutes.
Salsa Verde Mild - Herdez
Oaxacan Coffee That Ruined My Morning Drip Forever
Drank coffee from a clay mug at a rooftop café in Oaxaca and stared at it like it had personally betrayed every cup I'd had before. Rich, chocolatey, zero bitterness — completely unfair.
Brew this pour-over style and the chocolate notes come through so clearly you'll check the bag twice to make sure it's not flavored. For anyone tired of bitter, acidic morning coffee that needs milk to be drinkable.
Café Brújula
Grab a bag if you can find it online — small-batch roasted in Oaxaca and the flavor profile shifts depending on the harvest. Made a French press with it last Sunday and sat on my porch for an hour just because.
Boulenc, a European-style artisan bakery owned by Juan
Switch to this single-origin if you've been drinking blends and wondering why your coffee tastes generic. Grown in the Sierra Sur mountains and the altitude does something to the bean that I can't explain but can definitely taste.
Exploring Pluma Hidalgo: A Hidden Gem in Oaxaca's
Toss one into your coffee grounds before brewing — learned this from a woman running a café out of her living room in Etla. The warmth it adds is subtle but once you skip it you notice immediately.
Mexican Cinnamon Bark Canela
Shave a little into your coffee instead of white sugar and the caramel depth changes the whole cup. Bought a bag of six cones two months ago and I'm already on my second order.
Piloncillo Brown Sugar Cones
Cookbooks That Actually Taught Me Oaxacan Techniques
Watched about forty YouTube videos on mole and still couldn't get it right. These books broke down the why behind each step, which turned out to be everything I was missing.
Start here if you've never cooked Oaxacan food — the recipes are approachable and the stories around each dish explain why certain steps matter. Made her enfrijoladas on a Tuesday and ate leftovers for three days straight.
OAXACA: Home Cooking From The Heart Of Mexico
Get this for the deeper cuts — recipes you won't find on food blogs, organized by season so you cook with what's actually available. Her mole amarillo recipe alone is worth the price of the book.
The legacy of Susana Trilling
Not strictly Oaxacan but the techniques overlap and her approach to salsas changed how I think about balancing heat and acid. For anyone who cooks Mexican food and wants to understand the structure underneath.
My Mexico City Kitchen by Gabriela Camara
Pair this with a weekend when you have nowhere to be — some recipes take patience but the results are restaurant-level. His bean chapter made me realize I'd been undercooking beans my entire adult life.
Casa Tlayuda
Snag a used copy if you can — it's out of print and prices fluctuate but the regional breakdowns are the most detailed I've found in English. Felt like reading someone's field notes from decades of eating.
About Zarela Martínez
Oaxaca Experiences That Shaped How I Eat Now
Reading about Oaxacan food online gave me maybe twenty percent of the picture. The other eighty came from standing in a smoky kitchen at six in the morning watching someone's grandmother work.
Walk past the tourist section and find the row of smoke-filled meat stalls in the back. Pointed at a rack of tasajo, they grilled it on the spot, and I stood there eating it with tortillas and tears in my eyes. Not exaggerating.
Eating at Mercado 20 de Noviembre: A First-Timer's Guide
Book this early in your trip so everything you eat afterward makes more sense. Spent a full day making mole from scratch and finally understood why it takes so long — each ingredient needs its own moment.
La Casa de los Sabores
Skip the party-vibe mezcal bars and do this instead. Visited three palenques in one day, watched a guy crush agave with a horse-drawn stone wheel, and tasted mezcal that will never leave Oaxaca. Changed how I drink forever.
Mezcal Educational Tours of Oaxaca
Bring an empty stomach and cash — this market only happens on Sundays and the barbacoa pit alone is worth the thirty-minute drive from the city. Got there at 8am and didn't leave until noon.
Tianguis de Domingo en Tlacolula
Treat yourself to one nice dinner here and order the tasting menu. Every course told a story about a different region and the mole they served was so layered I genuinely sat in silence for a minute after the first bite.
Casa Gish Bac Cocina Oaxaqueña